We love the kitties!

I haven't given much update on the cats! And since they have their own category, I think it is high time to remedy that.

We are LOVING being pet owners again, and these two cats in particular. They are so fuzzy -- I mean, funny -- with two little distinct personalities. Apple is SO "girl," and SO "big sister." She definitely believes she is in charge. She sits so pretty, when she's upright and stately. Most of the time, though, her default position is "cat loaf." Paws tucked under and rounded on top. ;)

And she is indeed rounded. Hee hee. Side note, I just wrote an article for work about body types and swimwear shapes (you know that article, about the pears and the apples, it gets published every year by every women's magazine, ever). She is aptly named. You see, Apple really prefers to eat kitten food, which is higher-calorie than her adult cat food. Anytime she thinks we aren't paying attention, she has a snack from Ash's bowl. I felt like she gained a lot of weight quickly when we first adopted her, which is why now, their dry food bowls get put away after they eat in the morning, before we humans leave the house. I think that's helping. I just don't want her to get toooo fat and happy. But I'm glad she's happy.



Favorite napping spot? Rocking chair in the guest room.
Best trick? Allows us to hold her, for just a minute. Sometimes even snuggles.
Funniest habit? Scratches the wall/door frame after she uses the litter box. (In case any got up there, I guess? It looks like she's torn up the door frame, actually, which is annoying.)
Nicknames? Apple-cat, Apple Jack, Apply-Dapply.

Ash is our little brother kitty. Shawn calls him Loki, the Lord of Mischief. He's harder to catch on camera, but ever so lovey when he's in the mood. When I work from home, he'll walk around on the table in front of my laptop. Classic. He's also SUPER talkative. Meow? Meow. Meow meow. Ash will start a chase any day of the week, you don't even have to ask. He loves to play, and jump on Apple. She tries to ignore him.

He and Alex have a particular friendship and he usually sleeps on Alex's bed during the day, and at night.

Ash will not let us near his paws, so off to the groomer he went last Friday, for a bath and a mani-pedi. ;) He smells so nice now and is so soft! (Apple's up next in a week or so. I couldn't wrangle both of them in one day.)

By far his most noticeable characteristic is that he prefers his water fresh out of the tap, please and thank you. We keep a rubber band around the faucet handle when we're out of the house, because more than once he has turned it on himself!

Favorite napping spot? Alex's bed.
Best trick? Drinking water from the faucet. (Oh, and jumping up to the tippy top of the kitchen cabinets one Friday night late!) (And running down the stairs to crash into the mat by the front door. He's wild! And he has lots of tricks!)
Funniest habit? He watches the birds outside and talks to them, whining that he can't go catch them.
Nicknames? Ashy, Ash-kitty, Buddy

I'm so excited for Mom and Dad to meet them at Easter!

30-Day Yoga Challenge

I decided to try a 30-Day Yoga Challenge, just on my own in between Whole Life Challenges. Those 7 "easy" WLC habits fall away immediately after the thing ends. No stretching or walking or anything. I'm working to NOT do that this time.

I'm using Yoga With Adriene, her Yoga Camp series, because I've heard so much about her online from others, and also hello, she's free. I like her style (now that I've gotten used to it). It's slower-paced yoga than many other videos I see online. At least so far. I'm on Day 5. Patting myself on the back -- not only for sticking to it, but also for starting on a Friday, giving me 4 full days (day off yesterday) before I had to set my alarm for 5:00 am today! But I did it. I decided that's the only time I can do a 30 or 35-minute yoga workout -- before everyone else is awake. Ten minutes after dinner? Sure. No big deal. 30 minutes? Much harder somehow. I try to remind myself that I LIKE yoga, a lot, so waking up for it is NOT actually torture. :) The good news is, we're already going to bed at 9:30 (we're so OLD!), so I'm not losing on sleep.

I'm feeling sore in some places and that is a good thing. Today's theme was 'I am alive.' In case you're curious, I try to also connect the spiritual side of yoga to my OWN spirituality. I do find yoga to be very focused on the inner Me, Me, Me. It has its place; self-awareness and self-compassion are important. But sometimes it gets to be a little too much for what I'm used to. A little too frou-frou, too hippie, too not-Jesus-focused, lol, although I appreciate the ancient tradition and the inclusive language of it all. Without trying to add any Catholic guilt to it (difficult), I try to at least look for my God on my mat. I try to take the calming strategies and the mantras and make them match my own heart and traditions. Don't want to get too deep here on a Tuesday morning at 10:00 am. (wink), and also, let me note that Adriene's style does NOT seem very spiritual, which I like. Sometimes I'm just in it for the workout and the relaxation, you know? In fact, I've only once had an instructor who was overly zealous with the Hindu stuff and the mala beads and the chanting. It did make me uncomfortable. But as far as I'm concerned, you have to find what's true for you, and I'll hold to what's true for me, and let the rest go. I'm not saying I recite the rosary while I stretch. ;) But a lot of Catholic resources online give yoga such a bad rap, and I just don't believe it's bad. I think if you're seeking the Divine, seek it in every instance. (Some websites say yoga is a tool of the devil. I ...strongly disagree. I remembered this morning that the Church also said, at one time, that Judaism was of the devil, and they tried to expel all the Jews from Spain. I just read an excellent book about that. So... they're not always right.)

I like that this is happening. Ignatian Yoga seems perfect. :) Anyway, all this is to say: another reason I'm learning that it's important to do my yoga in the early morning is so that I can find some quiet -- a prayerful moment, maybe -- and really BE in it. Not distracted or interrupted.

Speaking of self-aware: Kate is becoming so. She had a small moment this morning which caused her to wail and gnash teeth, but then she had a bit of applesauce and got over it. As she left for school, tears dried but her cheeks still rosy, I told her how pretty she looked. She came in for a hug and said she was sorry for before. "I think I was just tired." Aww. I think she was hungry, myself, but maybe both. But GOOD WORK, recognizing it was Something and ... well, getting over it.

Because I'd done my yoga I was t o t a l  z e n about the entire episode. ;)

What Time Even Is It?*

Haha, I know what time it is (Monday, 8:35 am). But I do feel a little bit wrecked this morning - I got home from my business trip to Las Vegas at about 11:15 last night. While I was out there, three time zones away from home, we changed to Daylight Savings. So my body clock is probably a little out of whack. Not to mention the fact that I have woken up several times every night since Friday night. Every hour, almost. Even last night in my own bed.

What am I doing at work, then?! You're not the first to ask. I had to get up anyway, to help get the kids off to school, and to SEE them, and Shawn, say hello... so I figured I might as well just go to work. I'm pretty sure I won't be super productive, though.

The trip itself was okay: A conference for nurse navigators in breast centers, with tons of very medical, very data-specific and jargon-filled workshops. I held my own, taking notes, grateful I didn't have any clients to entertain or responsibilities other than listening, but I did have mild existential questions like, "WHAT is God's purpose, actually, in putting me in this particular place today?" Because seriously: I'm not a nurse, I'm not planning to ever BE a nurse... or a doctor or a statistician... it was interesting to think about. I did have one mini-encounter with a speaker whose topic was different from all the rest. He is a brain cancer survivor, and was there to talk about self-compassion and gratitude, and how those tools can help nurses do their jobs better. It was just the topic I've been "studying" via the Happier app since January, and I loved his talk. I took a moment afterwards to thank him and he was very kind and appreciative. Maybe that was my purpose in being there? Maybe he needed to hear Thank You...? It was one of the best moments of the trip. The other was a dinner I had with a coworker and her family (husband, stepdaughter). Really enjoyed them all, particularly the coworker. Finally, the very best moment was my hour-long conversation with Jilly, since I was in her time zone! We were planning our Seattle adventure (more later on that)!

Anyway, instead of feeling grumbly about the fact that I was there, mostly I felt curious about it, and that helped, I think. Oh, I was plenty grumbly on Friday before I left and on my way to the airport, don't worry. Traffic was a nightmare and I just don't like Not Knowing where to go, what to expect. I also hate getting from an airport to a hotel. Just hate that in any city. Don't like taxis. I'm not yet an Uber or Lyft user (but should be). So I'd booked a shuttle in Vegas, which was only $10 and I thought would be a good option. It was a terrible option. I mean, it worked, but it stressed me out. My coworkers asked, "WHY did you do that?" But... I don't like taxis. Especially not at night, especially not by myself. Anyway. That was the hardest thing.

I didn't even touch a slot machine or have a drink in any casino (stayed at Bally's, meeting was in Paris LV). Someday maybe Shawn and I should go to Vegas together, and try to enjoy it. Although neither one of us is very good at parting with our money. ;)

*I find this sentence structure so fascinating. The kids do it. Not sure where it (even) comes from but I loved this article.

Post-Party High

We did it -- invited the new neighbors over for dinner. Yay! I was nervous -- what if they don't like us? -- but as it turns out we share a lot of interests. Shawn and Mr. Neighbor geeked out about Marvel and Star Wars and gadgets, and Mrs. Neighbor and I talked PTA and working motherhood (she's not, now, but is anxious to go back sometime after her Baby #2 arrives this summer - probably working at home, lucky dog). I heard a lot of laughter from the kids, too. And on a related note, their daughter, age 8, taught Kate age 10 to ride a bike this weekend! Ha! So now we're in the market for a used bike for Kate. ;)

I tried to keep dinner simple and not get crazy or stressed, because that's no fun for anyone. And it helped that it was Cleaning Weekend anyway, and we got the downstairs nicely vacuumed and dusted, and rearranged some furniture on Saturday. We had all the laundry finished and folded (thx, Shawn!) at 6:25 pm and they were due to arrive at 6:30! Everything came together beautifully.

For food, I ordered 2 pounds of pulled pork from a BBQ place, and made all the other sides. Hashbrown Casserole in the Crockpot (yum), coleslaw, Jim N Nick's cheddar biscuits, and watermelon. These Strawberry Brownies for dessert (and I resisted eating one).

This meal was not WLC compliant! Nor was my Saturday-night-after-Mass, celebratory-WLC-is-over Mexican food at Huey Luey's! I had a chimichanga of all things (not as satisfying as a cheese enchilada would have been, but they didn't have those), and lots of chips and queso. And a margarita. It was nice to be "off-challenge," and I enjoyed it all. I am trying to be back on track for the work week as much as possible, because I didn't lose many pounds during the challenge, which is a bummer. But I think I've said, my pants fit better and I lost inches. We'll see how well I stick to it in the "off" period. I don't want to lose what little progress I made. Stupid dieting. Why do I love food (read: bread and cheese) so much? And here's a tip from me to you: Staying away from sugar does NOT take away the craving for it. I totally believe in having less sugar/fewer carbs, but I still love/want them. Deprivation has never "cured" me.

The spring weather makes everything seem lighter and happier, too, I think. It's still cold in the mornings/evenings, but this weekend was just lovely in the middle of the day. Birds are singing, sun is shining! That has been so nice, after such a lot of rain  and gray days lately (which I think are set to return this week, boo).

I'm trying NOT to let my mood be swung by a required weekend business trip coming up. It's a trip to Vegas, and actually shouldn't be HARD or anything -- I'm just going to listen, observe, and learn in some conference sessions. I don't necessarily have to shmooze or sell anything, and I can go to my hotel room as soon as I like after the conference ends. But it's over the weekend, and I have to travel there on my own. So funny -- something I used to really want to do, when I was in my twenties, was travel for work by myself. It felt so grown up. I'll have to remember that instead of grumbling about the hassle of it, on Friday. I think the good news is that I get to take 2 days off that next week, to make up for having to work over a weekend. So I need to ask about those -- something else to look forward to. :)